FD3S
Hall of Fame
the last time Nadal was stretched to 5 sets at the US Open was 2004, and the last time he lost before SF was 2007, so if he's going to enter a slam without match-play, this is the slam to do it at.
and he'll be well rested to gain big points during indoor season, especially if he wins the US Open as convincingly as 2010 and 2013.
About that - you might wanna hit up YouTube and see what Roddick did to him that year. It didn't exactly take him five sets.